The gas is vital to healthcare providers and also plays an essential role in the manufacturing processes of glass, steel and chemical producers. Oxygen, or O2, which comprises 21 percent of the earth’s atmosphere, supports life and makes combustion possible. Colorless, odorless and tasteless, oxygen has poor solubility in water. A specific gravity of 1.105 makes it slightly heavier than air. When cooled to its boiling point of -297°F (-183°C), oxygen becomes a transparent, pale blue liquid that is slightly heavier than water. Although oxygen itself is nonflammable, it enhances combustion and enables all materials that are flammable in air to burn much more vigorously.

Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element, by mass, in our biosphere, air, sea and land. Oxygen therapy is used to treat emphysema, pneumonia, some heart disorders (congestive heart failure), some disorders that cause increased pulmonary artery pressure, and any disease that impairs the body’s ability to take up and use gaseous oxygen. Oxygen can be used in a medical setting or prescribed for use at the home with portable tanks. A notable application of O2 as a low-pressure breathing gas is in modern space suits, which surround their occupant’s body with pressurized air. Smelting of iron ore into steel consumes 55% of commercially produced oxygen. Most of the remaining 20% of commercially produced oxygen is used in medical applications, metal cutting and welding, as an oxidizer in rocket fuel, and in water treatment.

Click here for the material safety data sheet.